Rangers and Ninjas and Knights, Oh My!
by acw28
Summary: Jaune Arc didn't expect much moving to Vale during his Senior year, maybe make a few new friends and, if he was lucky, get a girlfriend. He definitely didn't expect he'd play a part in saving the world, but after finding a sword stuck in a cave, that seemed to be his destiny. Now if only those five girls could decided if they want his help, or want to fight him. Power Rangers AU.
1. New in Town

**Hello everyone, it's acw28 here with a new story!**

**Yeah, I don't know where this one came from. Personally, I'm blaming my excitement over the new Volume for putting me mind in a RWBY mood. As for the other half of the inspiration, yeah, I've got nothing. I did recently re-read azndrgn's **_**Jaune of Ranger**_**, so maybe the idea steams from there. In any case, I'm listing this as a solo RWBY story since while it's an AU inspired by Power Rangers, I'm not using any characters or settings from the series.**

**With that out of the way, let's move onto the newest tale that refuses to get out of my head. Quick notes about this Power Rangers inspired AU; no one has Aura, Huntsmen and Huntresses don't exist, and the Grimm aren't a worldwide problem.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Power Rangers, this is just something I do for fun.**

* * *

"And that's the last of them." Jaune declared as he set down the last box. If one were to describe the blond teen, average would come to mind. True at six foot he was a little taller than most of his peers, but everything else about him seemed to make the teen fad into the background. Maybe that's why he'd volunteered to take the majority of the boxes up the stairs into the apartment he was now sharing with his sister and her family.

"You know you didn't need to take so many." Saphron lightly scolded her younger brother as she grabbed a box and brought it into the kitchen, unpacking glasses and plates. The young woman then asked, "Are you sure this is what you want? It's not too late to go back you know."

"And let you have all the fun?" Jaune challenged, "As if! Besides, where would I go, back home?" That was the other thing that set Jaune apart, he came from a large family, the only son of eight children to be exact, and the exact middle child. Due to this, Jaune was often left to his own devices as his parents tried to corral his younger, and less predictable sisters. Jaune didn't blame his parents for the slight neglect, but it was a challenge to be heard in the Arc household, although he and Saphron were always particularly close. As they grew up, Saphron was the first to encourage Jaune to try different things. Consequently, Jaune failed at many things, but eventually found a knack for photography. In turn when Saphron was having a near mental breakdown about her sexuality, Jaune was the person she confided in, helping Saphron regain her confidence before coming out to the rest of her family.

So when Saphron told her family she was moving to Argus with her fiancé Terra Cotta, she also extended an opportunity to her brother to come with her. Jaune had just entered his freshmen year of high school and yearned for a bit more independence and elbow room, so he accepted. All in all, Jaune had enjoyed himself in Argus, even if he was the de facto babysitter for his nephew Adrian, Terra's son from a previous relationship but an Arc to the entire family.

That was three years ago. Saphron and Terra had gotten married a year ago, but then Terra's job had promoted her. Said promotion had a significant salary increase, but the requirement to relocate from Argus to the Country and Capital of Vale. So here Jaune was, about to enter his final year of high school, living with his older sister, her wife and son, one of which just walked into the room.

"Alright, I just put Adrian down for his nap, time to unpack." Terra Cotta-Arc stated as she walked towards one of the large boxes. Unlike Jaune and his sister, Terra had light brown skin just a few shades lighter than her hair and eyes. Also, while the Arcs had perfect vision, Terra needed her red framed glasses.

Jaune moved to help his sister-in-law unpack, only for a loud rumble to come from the kitchen. In sync the two turned to stare at Saphron, the woman blushing as she declared, "Don't either of you start, it was a long flight."

"It is about lunch time back in Argus." Terra conceded. Turning to Jaune, she asked, "I hate to ask this of you Jaune, but could you maybe go grab us some take out? My boss told me about a good noodle shop not too far from here."

"It's no problem Terra," Jaune replied as he pulled out his phone for directions, "what's the address?"

"I think it's 1103 King Avenue." The woman stated. Jaune gave a nodded and turned to walk out the door, only for Terra to yell his name. As he turned back to face her, Terra told the teen, "Be careful Jaune, the guy I'm replacing quit because of some weird things happening in Vale."

"Weirder than the 'All-Natural' community back in Argus?" Jaune questioned, causing everyone in the room to shiver.

"Good point." Terra admitted as Jaune walked out the door. Quickly the woman walked to the door and called out to the teen, "Still, be careful." In reply, she got a wave from over the teen's shoulder before he walked into the elevator.

* * *

For the first ten minutes by himself, Jaune was enjoying the city. True, Argus was more rustic than Vale, but the modern architecture also had its charm. As he was walking across the plaza the tranquility ended with a loud howl. Seemingly out of the shadows, what Jaune could only describe as bone covered werewolves appeared. A total of four of the monsters appeared in the plaza, chasing people away and damaging structures. Seeing as he wasn't noticed yet, Jaune attempted to sneak away, only to find his path blocked by a fifth beast.

As the wolf-like monster started stalking closer, Jaune desperately searched for an escape route. Not seeing one, the teen did the last thing he could think of, he threw a punch across the beast's muzzle. While the Arc wasn't muscular, he was far from scrawny and could throw a decent punch if need be. The end result was the beast's head moving less than a fraction of an inch and Jaune's hand throbbing.

While shaking his hand to try and dissipate the pain, Jaune caught just a slight tensing of the beast's right arm, allowing him to just barely step away from a back handed swipe. Now seeing an escape route, Jaune rushed right to vault over a concrete planter, however the teen's luck held steady as he underestimated the drop to the street, landing badly and rolling his right ankle.

With his injured limb, Jaune feel to the ground. Quickly he flipped onto his back, to see the beast's head peering over the planter. Desperately Jaune ran his hands on the ground, trying to find something to defend himself with. That's when the unexpected happened, the creature's head fell from its body. As the body seemed to dissolve in the air, Jaune caught a glimpse of his savior, someone wearing a bronze colored helmet, their eyes hidden by a black visor while the bottom of their face was covered by what looked like a white scarf. That was the all Jaune was able to see before the figure disappeared.

With the air suddenly quiet, Jaune hesitantly got back on his feet. Limping back towards the plaza, the teen braved a glance around a planter, only to see the plaza empty and with extensive property damage. Before limping along to go and get food, Jaune voice his thoughts aloud, "What the hell just happened?"

* * *

The following month was interesting for Jaune. He, Saphron, Terra, and Adrian settled into the apartment fairly fast and without too much difficulty, except for the phone company continually delaying their internet installation but at least they had gotten cable quickly. His senior year started, but not many people made the effort to reach out and get to know the teen, the curse of being the new kid. Still he managed to get good grades and found a few places to get good landscape photos.

Unfortunately, the monsters kept popping up.

Thankfully Jaune wasn't as involved as he was in the first encounter, but he'd been close enough to get a good view of who was fighting the monsters. The first detail Jaune noticed was that all five of the warriors were women, the armor doing nothing to disguise their silhouettes. They also all wore roughly the same thing, just in different colors. Aside from the headgear, each woman wore sleeveless, kimono-like shirts with some form of armor underneath it, fingerless gloves were wore underneath bracers that covered the forearm and back of the hand, meanwhile each woman wore a skirt of her respective color, that was paired with black leggings while tabi socks and zōri sandals covered their feet, shin guards were the last bit of visible armor.

After seeing the women fight the beasts the first few times, Jaune started carrying his camera with him everywhere, getting quite a few good action shots. However, as his collection grew, Jaune also noticed a new development, the warriors had started fighting differently. Before they had all used the same type of weapon, but recently it looked like the warriors were trying to distinguish themselves individually. 'But why?' Jaune asked himself as he walked into the _Lotus Café, _a small business he'd taken to visiting to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi, something a number of other people were doing if the number of open laptops was any indication.

After ordering a drink and a pastry, Jaune found a seat next to a girl his age with short orange hair and was wearing a black jacket. She had commandeered an entire table for herself with the amount of papers spread out. Due to the close seating, Jaune couldn't help but overhear her conversation with a teenage boy, who had loose black hair save for a bang dyed a deep magenta. "I'm telling you Rennie, something about them has changed."

"I really don't see it Nora." the boy replied before calmly sipping from a teacup.

"Then how come they don't use katanas anymore!" Nora demanded as she grabbed a blurry photo and started waving it around. "Heck, only one of them even uses a sword anymore!"

Before he could stop himself, Jaune spoke up, "Those weren't katanas." When the ginger turned around and raised an eyebrow at him, Jaune really wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Still, in for a penny, in for a Lien. Quickly opening his gallery on his laptop, Jaune selected an early photo, this one of the bronze clad fighter. Swiveling his laptop around, Jaune gave the pair an impromptu lecture as he gestured to the length of the weapon, "The blade's only about a foot and a half long and straight. Now look at this," Jaune quickly switched to a later picture of the same subject, only this time she was holding a longer sword. "Now this is a katana. The blade is nearly twice the length and has a curve to it."

While Nora sat in silence, Ren asked, "And just how did you come to learn this?"

"I lived in Argus for three years," Jaune explained, "near Mistral Market. You stick around long enough, and you tend to learn somethings. I'm Jaune by the way, Jaune Arc."

"He's Ren, I'm Nora." The ginger stated before asking, "Do you have any more pictures?"

"Sure, aside from the bronze champion here I've got Miss Purple," Jaune clicked on a photo of a warrior wearing a deep, almost black, purple, who was holding the chain of a kusarigama after throwing the sickle; "Miss Yellow," this warrior looked slightly taller than the others and wore a bright yellow, her arm outstretched as she swung one of her tonfa; "Miss Blue," this woman's outfit was a dark blue and didn't appear to be holding any weapons, only two hand fans, although Jaune had seen them in action and knew them to be tessen, war fans made of metal with a razor sharp edge; "and Miss Red," Jaune finished his slideshow with a red clad figure, using two hands to wield a naginata.

Nora sat in silence for half a second before turning to Ren and ordering, "Rennie, why don't you go grab us some of your mom's cake pops?" When the other boy left, Nora grabbed Jaune's chair and pulled him to her table as she declared, "Alright new friend, looks like we've got some things to catch you up on."

Although not exactly given a choice, Jaune couldn't find himself upset about his current predicament.

* * *

Nora ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening catching Jaune up with her current findings. About a month ago the creatures, which many took to calling Beowolves, just suddenly appeared. At first it would require an entire SWAT team to take the monsters down, but then they appeared. No one seemed to know where they came from, much less get a decent picture before Jaune moved in, but the five women were able to quickly handle the monsters. Despite the public service they performed, there were still several mysteries surrounding the woman, chief among them their true identities. The other big mystery was what they called themselves, although Nora kept referring to the group as the "Kunoichi Krushers."

Aside from the heroes, Jaune also learned quite a bit about his new friends. Ren was an only child living with his mom and dad. The family had originally been from Kuroyuri, a small village in Mistral, but after a devastating flood had been forced to relocate to Vale. His parents owned and operated the _Lotus Café_, with his mom making most of the pastries while his dad handled the business side of things.

Nora's story was a little bit more interesting. Shortly after moving to Vale, Ren found her wondering the back allies in one of the rougher neighborhoods. After giving her a meal, the family took Nora to a police station only to find out no one matching her description had been reported missing. Further complicating matters was that Nora had retrograde amnesia and only remembered her name and a few days of wondering the streets before she was found by the Ren's. The family ended up taking Nora in after that, fostering the girl while trying to find her previous family.

Following his fateful meeting, Ren and Nora became permeant fixtures in Jaune's life. To no one's surprise, all three teens went to the same high school, although they only shared lunch. That only meant that the trio spent much of their free time together. If Jaune wasn't getting free food at the _Lotus Café_, then Ren and Nora were hanging around the Cotta-Arc apartment, Ren and Jaune competing against each other in one of Jaune's video games while Nora dotted on Adrian while waiting her turn to crush the winner.

All in all, it Jaune became comfortable with his life in Vale.

So of course something would happen to disrupt it.

* * *

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Saphron asked as she watched her brother grab his usual black hoodie.

"Maybe not, but what's life without a little adventure?" Jaune asked as he grabbed his camera bag. He then tried to ease his sister's fears, "Please don't worry so much. We're just going an hour outside the city, it's not like we're going to Vacuo."

"Still, be careful." Saphron called out as Jaune started heading to the door, Terra adding on, "Stay safe."

"Alright mom and mom!" Jaune teased the two before heading out the door, down the stairs, outside, and into the backseat of Ren's beat up Jeep, Nora already sitting shotgun.

As he buckled up and helped himself to the offered road snacks, Jaune asked, "So where are we going again?"

"Mountain Glenn," Ren answered before turning onto the freeway, "it was supposed to be an extension of the city, kind of a satellite commercial area, before the funding ran out."

"There are some rumors online that the Krusher had a battle there recently, causing a partial cave in that opened a new cavern." Nora supplied before taking a drink, "And Rennie here wants to be the first to explore it."

That was another thing Jaune had learned about Ren. Martial arts, urban exploration, spelunking, the teen seemed to have a hobby for every day of the year. After a quick question to make sure they had all the necessary gear and that what they were doing was legal, Nora's comment that no one ever told them it was illegal didn't sooth any of the blonde's fears, the three had an enjoyable drive to the abandoned city.

After Ren parked on the pothole ridden street, Jaune stared in awe at the half-finished skyscrapers around him and shivered at the silence. Turning to his friends, he asked, "Is it always this creepy."

"Yep," Nora said in her usual chipper tone, popping the p, "You get used to it after a while."

"Don't worry Jaune," Ren tried to reassure his friend, "Mountain Glenn is almost completely mapped out and there's hardly any squatters." The calming tone of the words were canceled out as the teen strapped a decent sized knife to his thigh.

"Alright, if you say so." Jaune replied as he followed his friends down the steps and into a subway.

As the trio turned on their headlamps, Ren spoke up, "Keep an eye on the ceiling and an ear out for rumbling. The construction should still hold, but you can never be too careful." Somehow Jaune's nerves refused to be calm. Still he kept quiet as the group made their way to the platform before jumping down onto the tracks and into one of the tunnels.

As the darkness surrounded the three teens, Jaune continued to feel as if something creepy was going to happen. Something in his mind just screamed that they weren't alone in the darkness. Still, he couldn't help but admit there was something strangely comforting and surreal about the situation. The group stayed silent before Ren pulled some paper out of his pocket and checked it.

"Alright, assuming we're going the right way we should see a crack in the tunnel soon."

"You mean like that one?" Jaune asked as his light revealed a two-foot crack in the brickwork.

"Exactly." Ren replied with a smile. Rushing forward, the teen shrugged off his backpack and carried it beside him as he scooted into the cavern. Nora and Jaune waited to see if their friend would need help getting out, and were relieved to hear Ren call out, "It's a little tight for about eight feet, but then opens up to a large cavern." With only a small bit of hesitation, the pair soon followed after their more adventurous friend.

Once he was able to see properly again, Jaune could see the stark difference of the new cavern. While before he'd been surrounded by rough bricks, the stone here had all been worn smooth through years of natural processes. As Jaune saw Ren kneel down and open his backpack to remove a long length of rope, he asked, "Just what is that for."

"Precaution more than anything." Ren explained as he pointed his light to the other end of the cavern, "It looks like there's only one path, but rather safe than sorry." Selecting a large stalagmite near the opening to the next area, the teen quickly looped it around the rock formation and made a solid knot. After double checking his work, he called out, "Alright, you two ready?"

"Just a sec!" Jaune called back, slightly enjoying the echo as he reached into his own bag and pulled out his camera. After fiddling with the settings, he took a quick snapshot to commemorate the moment, but frowned upon seeing the picture.

Seeing her friend's face, Nora asked, "Something the matter Jaune?"

"Not sure, might need a new screen or something is reflecting in the next area." Jaune explained as he showed Nora the image, where several bright glints could be seen in the darkness.

Nora instantly thought of an explanation as she cried out, "GOLD!" and rushed past Ren. A few moments later her voice called out to the boys, "Never mind, it's not gold. But you two still might want to see this." The two boys shared a look before stepping into the darkness. They were not disappointed with what they found.

For some unexplainable reason, this cavern was almost like walking into daylight, which allowed the trio to clearly see the markings on the cave wall. Yet instead of pictographs the golden lines made easily recognizable letters. After a bit of examination, Ren asked, "Is this, Latin?"

"But how? Vale wasn't settled until well after the Medieval period and this cave was sealed long before construction of Mountain Glenn started. And I didn't see any other way in." Jaune stated, further adding to the mystery.

"Oh, that's not even the best part." Nora called from the pairs right, "Check this thing out."

The thing happened to be a large boulder siting in the exact center of the cavern, with a sword stabbed into the top of it. As Nora climbed up the rock, she asked Ren, "So if I pull this thing out, do I become Queen of Vale? Do I get my own castle?" Those questions remained unanswered as the boys humored the girl for a few minutes in her attempts to pull the sword from the stone, but nothing happened.

Pulling out his phone, Ren checked the time before stating, "Alright come on Nora, we need to start heading back if we want to be home by dinner."

"But Jaune hasn't gotten to try yet!" Nora pleaded, desperate to see the sword freed even if it wasn't by her hand.

The two boys shared a look before Jaune sighed and walked forward. After being pulled up on top of the boulder by Nora, Jaune got a better look at the sword. Based on the blade it was probably something similar to an arming sword, the handle had a black wrap with silver rings. The pommel was a polished silver sphere, while the crossguard was a golden arc pointing towards the blade's tip.

Just as Jaune was about to reach out and grasp the hilt, the group heard a growl. From the darkness came a Beowolf. Ren quickly unsheathed his knife while Nora grabbed a large rock to throw at the creature. Despite this, in the back of his mind Jaune knew this wouldn't be enough. Desperate to help his friends, Jaune didn't think as he grabbed the sword's handle and pulled with all his might, the teen didn't expect to weapon to come free. As he stumbled forward, Jaune just managed to regain his footing before jumping off the rock and towards the beast, his war cry gaining the beast's attention. With strength that even surprised himself, Jaune swung the sword downwards, cleaving into the Beowolf's skull.

After pulling the weapon out of his vanquished foe, Jaune looked at his friends as he said, "Well that was something."

"You can say that again fearless leader." Nora complimented as she walked forward, giving the blonde a friendly punch as she said, "I didn't know you had it in ya."

"Maybe we should head back up," Ren suggested before the conversation progressed any further, "who knows if there's more Beowolves down here."

"Good idea." Jaune agreed before he noticed the writing on the cave walls beginning to change. Making sure he wasn't hallucinating, he asked, "Hey guys, are those words changing to English?"

"Nope, it's still all Latin to me." Nora supplied.

Curious, Ren asked, "What do they say Jaune?"

"Upon the time to vanquish evil, invoke the knight with blade in hand, achieve glory by protecting the land." Jaune read off the wall before turning to his friends and asking, "Can you seriously not read it?"

"Maybe it's because you're holding the sword?" Nora questioned before holding out her hands and commanding, "Gimme, I want to try!"

Before she could grab the weapon, the cavern was filled with light. When the three teens regained their sight, the sword was gone. Instead Jaune now wore a silver wristwatch on his left hand, the minute and hour hand stylized as swords.

Ren was the first to speak up, "Okay, that's enough weirdness for today, I'm out." He then started heading back to the previous cavern as he continued, "I don't have it in me to process anymore today, let's just get out of here and try to figure this out tomorrow."

Jaune and Nora nodded their agreement before following their friend back out of the cave. Thankfully there weren't any other monsters hiding in the shadows, although the walk to Ren's Jeep and the drive home was filled with silence.

* * *

When Jaune walked into the _Lotus Café _the next day, his friends noticed an immediate change. Nora was the one who voiced her thoughts as she said, "Hey Jaune Jaune, been working out recently?"

"No, I haven't." Jaune denied as he took his seat. "This whole thing is crazy. I went to bed my normal noodle armed self, then woke up this morning looking like I could go toe-to-toe with Cardin. I've also got abs," Jaune lifted up his hoodie and shirt slightly to show the muscles, Ren grabbing Nora's hand to stop her from rubbing them, at which point Jaune let his shirt drop and finished speaking, "and this watch won't come off."

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the trio before Nora spoke up, "Okay, so I know this is crazy, but unless we're having a shared extended hallucination, could this be magic?"

"I'd rather not entertain the notion, but nothing else is making much sense." Ren admitted.

"Alright, but then why here and why now? And why me of all people?" Jaune questioned. When neither of his friends could give him an answer, he sighed as he pushed his hair out of his face. "Look, let's just forget it and move on with our lives, alright?"

Nora opened her mouth to make a counter argument, but stopped when her phone went off. Quickly looking at the device, the ginger almost yelled, "Crap, I forgot I had tutoring with Blake today."

Not recognizing the name, Jaune asked, "Who's Blake?"

"A new student who moved to town a few months before you did, you might actually share some classes," Ren explained, "she's been trying to raise Nora's Pre-Cal grade."

It was at that point Nora happened upon a genius idea, "Why don't you guys come with me, we can make this a group thing."

"I didn't have anything else planned." Ren admitted.

"So, either suffer math, or head home and risk walking in on one of my nephew's temper tantrums." Jaune joked, "Tuff call, but I guess I'll take math."

As the group were walking to the library, the suddenly heard chaos surrounding them. Already having an idea of what was happening, Nora groaned before asking, "Can't we go a day without something like this happening?"

"Complain later, hide now." Ren ordered as he dragged his friends towards an ally and behind a dumpster.

Taking a peek over his hiding spot, Jaune observed the Beowolves. Thankfully the monsters where once more focused on property damages, but there were about double the usual number. Voice his thoughts, Jaune asked, "Shouldn't the Kunoichi be here to take care of these?"

"They should, but this is a bigger swarm than usual." Nora commented before suggesting, "Maybe there's even more than we're seeing, and the girls are working from the outside in?"

Seeing one of the monsters slash apart a hotdog cart, thankfully taking itself out in the explosion, Jaune countered, "Doesn't matter, someone needs to do something now before someone gets hurt."

Already knowing what his friend was planning, Ren warned, "Jaune…"

"Look, we don't know what's going on, but I do know I might be able to help so I've got to try." Jaune stated. Figuring the sword and transformed the other day was as good as the sword, Jaune grasped the face of the watch with his right hand and called out, "Knight!" When that didn't work the teen tried, "Initialize knight!" When still nothing happened, the desperate teen said, "Go go knight?"

When, yet again, nothing happened, Nora gave her friend a look and asked, "You sure you're doing that right fearless leader?"

"Of course I am, how else would this work?" Jaune asked, before recalling the exact words from the cave. Facepalming, Jaune swore, "I'm going to be so mad if this works." Before anyone could ask any questions, Jaune cried out, "Knight Time!"

Suddenly the group were engulfed in a bright flash. Jaune felt a handle jut out from the watch face, which he quickly grabbed. Instincts guided him as he gave a few quick slashes, some weight appearing on his chest, arms, and legs after each swing. Finally a helmet formed around his head and the light faded out. With the sword resting across his shoulder, Jaune stated, "Well, time to see what I can do."

* * *

Walking with a confidence that he certainly didn't possess, the teen caught his reflection in a shop window. Unsurprisingly he looked like a typical knight, although the armor seemed to be silver with some gold detailing along the edges and down the center of the breastplate. The helmet was also fairly standard, although the visor was sculpted like a beak while the rest of the piece had detailed feathering, almost like an eagle's head. Finishing the ensemble was a gold colored cape hanging from his shoulders.

The Beowovles soon noticed Jaune. As the beasts charged, he stood firm. When the first monster tried to slash at him, Jaune raised his left arm and blocked the claws with his bracer. Before the Beowolf could react, Jaune brought his blade forward and stabbed it in the chest.

Seeing their comrade defeated so easily seemed to make the other monsters pause, so Jaune charged them. The first beast tried to raise its arm in defense, which only allowed Jaune an opportunity to sever the limb before taking its head.

Now the beasts rushed him as a group of three. Jaune sidestepped the lunging first beast, bringing his pommel down on its head to stun it as the second one moved forward, only to meet Jaune's blade through its throat. The third beast tried to stab at the knight with its right claws, only for Jaune to parry the limb, take a few fingers as he did so, before chopping the beast apart from shoulder to hip.

At this point the first Beowolf recovered and once again lunged at Jaune. Taken by surprise, the teen barely got his sword up in time to block the attack, using his free hand to brace the blade and stop the claws from piercing through his chest. As the Beowolf's jaws began to snap, trying to get the knight's head, Jaune pushed with all his strength, matching the beast. Not wanting a deadlock, Jaune gave a wordless yell as he pulled from within himself and pushed harder. Slowly, the blade began to inch closer to the Beowolf's throat until it rests against the monster's neck. Jaune kept pushing, making the beast walk backwards or lose its head. Shortly the two came to a pillar, with the Beowolf's back to the concrete it couldn't retreat anymore. Jaune didn't have that problem.

With one last burst of strength, Jaune shoved his sword halfway into the Beowolf's neck, severing some fingers as he did so. When the monster stopped moving Jaune gave an exhausted huff before reclaiming his weapon, flicking off the black blood. Yet just as he thought he was able to relax, Jaune heard more howls. Turning on his heel, Jaune saw five Beowolves charging towards him.

This slightly panicked the teen, who was beginning to feel exhausted from his earlier skirmish and didn't know how he'd fight five opponents at once. Suddenly, as if his hand was moving on its own, Jaune sheathed his sword and pulled the handle down, causing a change to the weapon. Half of the crossguard followed the handle, pivoting around as if to protect the hand. The other half seemed to sink into the sheath, which now had a large hole in place of the tip. As a sliver of metal popped out from the handle, Jaune mentally yelled, 'It's also a gun!'

As Jaune noticed the changes, the Beowolves came closer. Acting quickly, Jaune took the weapon off his hip, used his left hand to hold it steady, aimed, and pulled the trigger. From his rifle a ball of white energy shot out, hitting the first Beowolf directly in the chest, slaying the monster. From there, the knight advanced towards his enemy, taking out three more of the monsters. Yet by the time Jaune trained his sights on the last monster, the Beowolf was within striking distance. As the beast tried to swipe at Jaune, the teen ducked under the arm, pivoted on his heel, and shot the monster in the back of the head.

Now that all the Beowolves had been defeated, and not hearing anymore rushing to fight him, Jaune quickly shifted his rifle back into a sheath and returned it to his hip. Already he could see some people emerge from their hiding places, cellphones in hand. Not wanting to create more of a spectacle, or be kept around to answer questions, the knight rather pointedly rushed off into a deserted ally. Once alone, the teen tried to figure out how to return to his normal self, only for the armor to suddenly vanish in a bright light, the wristwatch still adorning his left wrist. However there was one additional change, where before Jaune's hoodie was a pullover, it now featured a zipper and was currently open, showing the world a silver t-shirt.

"Well that's convenient." Jaune mumbled to himself as he took out his cellphone, sending out a quick text to Nora to meet back up at Ren's place.

* * *

Back at the scene of the fight, five figures stood on the roof of one of the buildings, having seen the tail end of the encounter. The yellow clad one was the first to voice her thoughts, "Well that was certainly interesting."

"But it doesn't make sense," the blue one stated, "the master entrusted us to safeguard Vale against the Grimm, were did this guy come from?"

"I'm more interested in where he got his gear, seems to be a bit higher standard than what we started with." The purple one supplied.

"Shouldn't we just be glad there's someone else fighting against Salem and her monsters?" the bronze wearing one asked. She then turned to the apparent leader of the group, the one wearing red, and asked, "What do you think of the situation?"

After a moment of silence, the young warrior replied, "I think we need to tell Master Oz and Miss Jinn what happened here and ask for advice." The other four nodded their heads before all five acted at the same time, jumping straight into the air and seemingly vanishing into it.

* * *

In a place with a pitch-black sky, a woman waited to hear the results of the latest battle. While her form fitting black dress did nothing to hide from her beauty, most would be put off by her stark white skin, visible black veins, and red eyes. As she saw her servant enter the chamber, the woman asked, "Cinder, how long did my creations last this time?"

"About as long as usual Mistress Salem." Cinder answered. The young woman gave a bit of a pause, hoping to avoid punishment as she bowed and added, "Unfortunately the majority of them were defeated by a single man, some fool masquerading as a knight."

"A single man you say?" Salem asked, intrigued, "Well that certainly makes things interesting."

As Salem left the room, Cinder followed after her, asking her master, "You are not upset?"

"The plan that succeeds always requires patience." Salem lectured her minion as she opened the doors to another room. A cauldron dominated the space, but was nearly empty save for the slow, irregular drip of black ooze from the ceiling that was slowly filling it up. "You see dear Cinder; you must always anticipate your opponent's moves and then act accordingly."

"You planned for this, Mistress?" Cinder asked as she followed her master around the cauldron.

"I figured it would happen eventually, whether with Oz's little girls or some other outside factor. As you already know Cinder, my children bring chaos upon the city. Oz may have exiled me in this plane, but he can't stop me from collected that chaos to create more of my Grimm, who will create more chaos. A never-ending cycle, and of course a hero can create just as much chaos as my children." Salem explained.

"I don't think I understand," Cinder admitted, "how can a force for good create chaos."

"Oh they don't create the chaos directly." Salem admitted, "It's more of a byproduct of their work. People love and look up to heroes, but in the back of their heads will question why a hero is needed. That questioning leads to fear, the fear a less potent form of chaos but a much more plentiful one," suddenly the drip of goo became a small but regular stream, "as you can plainly see." Salem finished with a smirk.

"I do mistress." Cinder replied with a matching smirk. "The cauldron should be filled in a few hours, I'll have the material moved to your workshop and an empty container brought up."

"Excellent," Salem replied, "as I expect from one of my top agents." After Cinder bowed and left the room, Salem brought a hand to her chin and began talking to herself, "I suppose I'll give those heroes a small reprieve. A week should allow me enough resources to make a nice surprise for Oz's little brats, and this new knight."

* * *

As usual, Jaune found the _Lotus Café _busy, but as expect Ren and Nora had found a space in the corner. As he made his way over to his friends, Jaune couldn't help but notice that many of the people's screens were showing shaky cellphone footage of his earlier fight. Trying to keep things from going to his head, Jaune took his seat, helped himself to some cookies that were on the table and asked, "So, what's up?"

"What's up?" Nora questioned, keeping her voice low. "What's up is that you're a freaking hero!"

"I'm not a hero Nora," Jaune countered, "I'm just someone who could help and did."

"Be that as it may," Ren cut in, "you made an impact, and people are taking notice. Some are calling you the Silver Knight."

"Silver Knight?" Jaune questioned as he bit into another cookie, "A little corny, but I kinda like it."

"So you're sticking with it then?" Ren questioned, causing Jaune to shrug his shoulders.

"Why not? I'm always up for helping people, and this thing isn't coming off any time soon." Jaune stated, pointing to his wristwatch.

"What about the Kunoichi Krushers?" Nora asked, "Are you going to try and work with them?"

"If they're open to it, sure why not." Jaune replied with a smile.

* * *

It had been a few hours since the Café had closed and the Ren family had moved to the apartment upstairs to get ready for bed. Ren himself had just finished brushing his teeth when he saw Nora rush from the office and into her room. Curious, Ren followed in after her, only to see the pages were the photos of practically every girl in their school. Clearing his throat to get his friend's attention, Ren asked, "Nora, just what is all this?"

"Oh, hi Rennie. This is my latest project." Nora replied with a smile.

"And that would be?" the boy asked.

"Finding out the secret identities of the Kunoichi Krushers!" Nora declared.

Way too used to his friend's antics, Ren raised an eyebrow and asked, "And just what makes you certain they go to our school?"

"Well, finding the sword back in Mountain Glenn got me thinking." Nora began to lecture, "Before yesterday, we all agreed I was by far the strongest of us. So then how come I couldn't pull the sword from the stone, but Jaune did on his first try?" Nora almost yelled her answer, "Because he was chosen!"

"That still doesn't explain why you're focusing your search on our school." Ren countered.

"Well Jaune seemed to do well fighting against the Beowolves, like the Krushers do, so they must have fit similar criteria." Nora explained, "And really the only thing I could think of between our knight and a bunch of ninja women must be a similar age."

"Alright," Ren accepted the explanation, "then what's your search terms?"

"Well I figure that the five of them would hang out fairly regularly, but that didn't take me far. But then I remembered Jaune's shirt when he came back from the fight."

"It was silver." Ren stated, not seeing the significance, until it popped into his head, "He wasn't wearing a silver shirt before he transformed!"

"Exactly!" Nora cheered, "So now I've just got to find girls that wear some form of red, blue, yellow, purple, and bronze every single day."

Ren smiled at his friend's deduction skills as he commented, "You're probably going to want a few more data points, but it's a good start." He then turned around and called over his shoulder, "Good night Nora."

"Good night Rennie!" Nora called back as she hung the last photo, a freshmen named Ruby Rose, on her board.

* * *

**So 14 pages, not a bad start to a new story.**

**As I said before, I really don't know where this tale came from. I will admit Jaune's initial move set is based primarily on the Magna Defender, but as the story moves forward, he'll get some new abilities that will help distinguish him from his inspiration. Aside from Jaune, this focus really didn't give too much away about the core Rangers, although I'm sure more than a few people have already figured out their identities. **

**As always there are a few clues sprinkled in the mix as to what will happen next, but there are also some questions as well. Questions such as…**

**Who are the Kunoichi Krushers, and could I have thought of a better name?**

**How will Jaune get along with the other heroes?**

**What surprises does Salem have planned?**

**Find out the answers to these questions and more in the coming chapters of **_**Rangers and Ninjas and Knights, Oh My!**_

**Until then, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


	2. A Different Take

**Hello everyone, it's acw28 here with another chapter of **_**Rangers and Ninjas and Knights, Oh My!**_

**This is rather interesting for me, it's been a long time since I had such a desire to write another chapter for a story so soon after starting it. Maybe I'm just in a very RWBY mood, but then again I also want to introduce a few more POVs of the story's other protagonists.**

**Well, I've got nothing else to say so let's get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

In the forests that surrounded Vale was a hidden complex comprised of a large, almost castle like building. If one were to examine the architecture of the building, they would find the layout and structure not too dissimilar to many of Mistral's older buildings.

Despite such a large building, there were only two regular inhabitants. The first spent most of her time in the building's library, while the other often toured the halls while sipping on his coffee. The old, white haired man walked with a cane and wore a green suit that looked out of place due to the Mistral inspired interior, to which the man would calmly give a lecture of how the three-piece suit was perfectly accurate to Mistral's Oum period when trading with Atlas began.

As the man finished the last of his cup, he was surprised to hear the door behind him slide open. Turning around, the man saw his five warriors sitting on their knees, their helmets off. As he took his place in front of the group, he noted, "You five are back sooner than expected, Salem sent out a rather large group."

"We didn't fight them all Master Ozpin," the red clad leader, Ruby Rose with her dark, red fringed hair and grey, almost silver eyes, stated, "there was someone else."

"Oh? Has the Vale police force become better equipped?" Ozpin asked, mentally comprising strategies to account for this development.

"No, they haven't." Weiss Schnee, the white haired and blue eyes warrior stated in her usual blunt manner, "There was only one person, and they seemed to have powers like ours."

"Yeah Master Oz," Yang, the blonde and purple eyed fighter interjected, "have you been keeping secrets from us? I thought we were your favorites."

"I assure you," Ozpin began after chuckling at the yellow warrior's joke, "you five are the most recent that I have asked for assistance." He then looked into his empty cup as he added, "Although I will admit I have crafted other gems that are now lost to me. It is possible someone happened upon the power." Looking back at his warriors, the man asked, "What color was this fighter?"

"The knight was silver, with some gold in their armor." Pyrrha, the green-eyed red head replied, causing Ozpin to raise an eyebrow.

"Curious." The man commented to the room. "I've never made a gold gem, and I am well aware of the unfortunate fate of the only silver gen I created. I also don't recall ever using my power to make something like a knight."

"So then who, or what, is this knight?" Blake, the dark-haired warrior with light brown, nearly yellow colored eyes, asked.

Ozpin hummed to himself before answering, "I probably heard the answer long ago but have since forgot. I'll need to speak to Jinn about this mater." He then stood up, his warriors following his lead, and stated, "Still you did good today. Spend your time as you see fit while Jinn and I search for the answer."

* * *

Two hours later, Ozpin was once more walking the halls as he went to collect his fighters. Walking towards the training yard, he found three of the girl's practicing and caught the end of their conversation.

"So then, what's the plan?" Pyrrha asked as she sheathed her katana before quickly drawing the blade in a slash, and then repeating the process.

"Well I mean, why can't we ask him for help?" Ruby asked as she planted the blade of her naginata in the ground, using the shaft like a pole-vault to kick a target.

"Remember what Ozpin and Jinn have told us." Yang rebutted as she struck the training dummy with an outstretched tonfa. "We have to take down the Grimm quickly and quietly so as not to cause panic. This guy made a spectacle out of his fight."

Clearing his throat to get the trio's attention, Ozpin stated, "Jinn and I believe we found an answer to this mystery, would you be so kind as to join us in the library? And where would Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna be?"

"They both went to meditate." Ruby answered, receiving a nod from the man as he ventured further into his home.

Arriving at the central room, Ozpin found his two remaining fighters kneeling before a large crystal.

"I still don't understand it." Weiss said, unaware of Ozpin's entrance, "We use our gems to draw power from the Master Crystal. If he didn't have a gem, how is he able to fight?"

"We're operating on the assumption he's using the crystal's energy." Blake countered, "Maybe he's found a different power source?"

"That is a distinct possibility Miss Belladonna." Ozpin agreed, hiding his small laugh at having gotten the drop on his students yet again. "It is also something that can be discussed with the rest of the team."

The two girls nodded, following after Ozpin as he led them to the library and hopefully some answers.

* * *

"I hope you all recognize what I went through to find this." Jinn declared as she "gently" set a large, leather bound book on the table and began flipping through the pages. "I almost forgot about this volume."

"But Miss Jinn, you always have the answers." Ruby complimented the rather shapely blue-eyed, blue-haired and blue-skinned spirit that seemed to haunt the library.

"And don't you forget it little Rose." Jinn shot back with a grin. Addressing the rest of the group, "Now as for your knight problem, here is the knowledge this place has on the subject."

As the five huddled together to read the entry, Weiss was the first to speak up, "Looks like you're right Blake, it says that while the knight has similar powers to ours, they draw from a different source."

"Yeah, but special coins?" Yang questioned, "Seem like they'd be easier to lose than our gems."

"I'm more interested in the implication of that." Blake confessed as she flipped through a few pages, "There's ever only one active knight recorded at a time. What happens if this person finds the other coins?"

"As interesting as that is, I think we're missing the problem." Pyrrha stated before turning to Ruby and asking, "Aren't we?"

With the group looking at her, Ruby flipped the book back to the beginning of the entry and pointed to a passage in the middle of the page, "The book says knights fight to protect the innocent, but that's so they can achieve glory for themselves. That goes against everything that Master Ozpin has taught us about fighting the Grimm." The leader then turned to the man and asked, "If we're supposed to be stealthy, how can we work with someone who wants the fight so out in the open? If they're not evil and we can't work with them, how are we supposed to stop them?"

"That, Miss Rose, is a question I can't answer." He then looked at his watch and declared, "It's also a question for another day, it is a school night and you five need your rest."

* * *

The question of how to handle the knight plagued Ruby's mind for the rest of the night and into the next day. She'd be so distracted that she'd ended up carelessly mixing the chemical solution in Professor Peach's chemistry class, meaning that while the rest of the class left for lunch, she had to stay behind and clean up. Once she was done, the lunch period was already half over.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able wait in line, get food, sit, and eat with the limited time, Ruby decided to grab her skateboard from her locker and take advantage of the nearly deserted school. Seeing as how Beacon High School was a mostly outdoor campus, the teen had to stick to the concrete pathways, but did have plenty of opportunities to grind down the stairway handrails. And of course it was always fun just to jump down from one landing to another.

While Ruby tried to keep her skating away from the crowded cafeteria, that had the unfortunate side-effect of placing her near the administrative building. As such the sophomore wasn't too surprised when she heard a voice yell out, "Miss Rose, stop this instant."

Recognizing the voice, and thankful it wasn't Principal Ironwood or Vice-principal Goodwitch, Ruby slide her board around to a stop before kicking it up into her hands. Turning around to face the guidance counselor, Ruby asked, "Hey Miss Fall, I don't suppose you could forget you saw me?"

The twenty-something women was wearing her usually red dress that definitely didn't meet dress code. Despite the stern glare, Miss Fall was a favorite among students since, short of murder, the women let everyone off with a warning. As expected the guidance councilor just shook her head and stated, "Listen, writing you up will create a lot of paperwork for me to deal with. Seeing as how I'm in the middle of an appointment how about you but your skateboard away and I give you a warning?"

"Thank you Miss Fall." Ruby called over her shoulder as she started walking back to her locker. She had some snacks there anyway that should tide her over until she got back home.

* * *

"Sorry about the interruption," Cinder said as she walked back into her office.

"It's not problem," Jaune replied as he tried to get comfortable in the too small seat. "Why did you wish to see me again Miss Fall?"

"Well as you are a new student, I was reviewing your records and noticed you don't have an extracurricular activities listed, not even back in Mistral." Cinder explained. "I just want to ensure that you are adjusting to our school properly."

"In all honesty, I'm fine." Jaune replied, "I've always been a bit of a wallflower. I've got a few good friends, so I'm good." He then stood up, grabbing his bags as he asked, "So can I go, or is there anything else?"

Cinder was about to dismiss her student until a certain bag caught her attention. "Do you enjoy photography Mister Arc?"

"I dabble a bit." The blonde admitted.

"The school paper's regular photographer is out with the flu." Cinder stated out of nowhere as she began writing out a note. "Go to this room afterschool today and give it a shot. If you don't like it, then it's one wasted afternoon. You do like it, then it's something that looks good on a college application."

Although he didn't want to, Jaune took the note with a huff. As he was about to open the door, Cinder called out, "Oh, and Mister Arc please send in Miss Belladonna."

The teen gave a brief nod before opening the door. Looking immediately to his left at the seat next to the door he spied a girl around his age with long black hair wearing a dark purple long sleeve shirt, her nose buried in a book. Clearing his throat, Jaune got her attention before simply saying, "She's ready for you."

The girl, Miss Belladonna, gave a brief nod before collecting her stuff and taking Jaune's previous seat. Now Jaune just had to make it through the rest of the day and get this one meeting done with.

* * *

Jaune honestly wasn't sure what he was expecting. When Miss Fall said school paper he was expecting maybe five students struggling to write enough articles for one issue. Instead there was about twenty students typing furiously on a mix of computers and laptops while another five stood before someone wearing a beret who was reviewing their work, "Garbage, this one is absolute trash, and this is just shit, what have I told you about proper punctuation!" Now that the crowd had dissipated Jaune saw the apparent editor of the paper was a young woman roughly his height wearing a beige turtleneck that few shades brighter than her hair, a bang of which was dyed a fading caramel, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses.

When she finally took notice of Jaune, the editor raised an eyebrow and asked, "And just who are you?"

"Jaune Arc," he began only to get interrupted.

"Coco Adel, now unless you belong to my paper get out of the room." The girl ordered.

Not sure where to begin, Jaune rubbed his neck and said, "Miss Fall sent me here, something about your usual photographer being sick."

"You're supposed to be Velvet's replacement?" Coco asked in s skeptical tone. "Well, beggars can't be choosers. We've already gotten a fluff piece written about the track team but we need photos. It's the girl's practice today, lucky you, so get down to the field and get back here before eight." When Jaune gave a brief nod and began walking towards the door, Coco called over his shoulder, "What are you waiting for, handwritten instructions? Get out of here before I give you motivation with Gianduja!"

That certainly got Jaune moving faster.

* * *

Jaune saw what Coco meant when he walked past the bleachers. There was at least a good dozen girls wearing either tank tops or sports bras and short shorts. As much as he wished to openly admire the sight before him, his pride as a photographer was on the line. As such, he knelt down to open his camera bag but hadn't even unzipped it before he felt a hand painfully clamp down on his shoulder.

"And just what," Jaune recognized the voice of Professor Port, the PE teacher, "are you doing young man?"

Jaune tried to keep his voice from trembling as he answered, "Coco sent me to get photos for the paper."

Instead of letting go, the man increased his grip on Jaune's shoulder as he said, "And I trust you'll be giving Miss Adel _all _of your photos from today's practice?"

"Of course sir." Jaune barely managed to squeak out.

"Splendid!" Port announced as he released the frightened teen. The muscular man then walked towards the girls as he called out, "Alright, we're switching it up from last meeting. Those who didn't run, set up for relays! The rest of you get ready for the field events. Xiao Long, you're on shotput! Nikos, grab a javelin!" The rest of the assignments were lost on Jaune as he opened his bag and fished out his camera.

After observing the action for a few moments, the blond selected a better lens and got a few quick shots of a group preparing at the starting line. Once the practice had started, Jaune walked across the lanes and onto the field to try and get a shot of the baton transfer, only to hear someone cry out, "LOOK OUT!" Acting on instinct, Jaune quickly dropped onto his stomach as a javelin sailed over his prone form and imbedded itself not a foot away. As Jaune rolled away and stated getting to his feet, the voice called out, "I'M SORRY!"

Jaune was about to say it was okay, only for the words to die in his throat. Running towards him was what the teen could only describe as perfection in a brown tank top and shorts; green-eyed, red headed perfection. Said perfection had kept talking as she ran over, "I'm so sorry, the field was clear before I began my run and I didn't check until after I threw it…"

As the girl kept rambling, Jaune finally found his voice and said, "No really, it's my fault. I should have check my surroundings before I set up the shot." He then held out his hand and introduced himself, "Jaune Arc, short and sweet." He was tempted to add "rolls off the tongue," but Terra had broken him of that habit.

"Pyrrha Nikos," the now named Pyrrha replied as she shook his hand. Taking not of the camera still around the blonde's neck, the athlete asked, "So is that for your professional portfolio or?"

"Oh no, I just recently got drafted into the school paper to cover for Velvet." Jaune explained, earning a giggle.

Before the conversation could continue, Port called out, "Mr. Arc, I'd thank you not to distract my athletes!"

"Right," Jaune stated as he disregarded the teacher's lack of concern, "well I better get back to work." As he began walking away, the blonde swiveled around and walked backwards as he said, "When you have some time, try finding me at the _Lotus Café _and we can decide who's fault it is." With the invitation given, Jaune turned back around and began thinking of the next shot.

* * *

With his back turned to Pyrrha, Jaune didn't see another blonde walk up to the girl. As she tossed the metal ball from one hand to the other, Yang asked, "So who were you flirting with just now?"

"Jaune Arc, I guess he's new." Pyrrha replied before realizing what exactly Yang said. Blushing deeply, the athlete told her friend, "I wasn't flirting!"

"Sure you weren't P-Money." Yang shot back with a grin as she set up to toss her shotput, "Just be glad Ruby didn't hang around to watch the practice or she might have decided to play matchmaker.

* * *

As she stepped off the bus, Ruby wondered if she would have been more or less bored had she stuck around and watched her sister practice. Ultimately she picked the bus ride home since nothing interesting ever happened during track and field. Still that left her with a bit of a walk from the bus stop to her front door. While she'd usually cover that distance quickly with her skateboard, right now she wanted the time to reflect on the question of what to do with the Silver Knight.

Ten minutes later, the teen arrived at her front door. The home itself wasn't too unassuming, just a regular two story house with a brick façade. Seeing one of the cars in the driveway meant one of her parents was home. As she opened the door, Ruby was greeted by an excited black and white corgi. As was the routine, Ruby leaned down and smiled as she scratched the dog's ears and asked, "Hey Zwei, you do a good job watching the house today?" When the dog barked in reply, Ruby gave her pet one more good scratch before heading further into the house.

Tossing her backpack onto the couch, the teen went into the kitchen for a snack to tide her over until dinner. Yet she noticed a plate sitting on the island. Fearful of the implication, Ruby called further into the house, "You made cookies," the girl then grabbed the one on the top of the stack and hesitantly bit into it, and was pleasantly surprised as she finished, "and they're edible for a change."

As Ruby helped herself to another cookie, she heard someone walk down the stairs as they answered, "It only took me fifteen years but I finally learned how Summer did it." Just as Ruby was about to help herself to a third cookie, she heard someone clear their throat behind her and ask, "Are you going to save any of those for your sister?"

Turning, Ruby saw her black haired step-mother, Raven Xiao Long nee Branwen. When Ruby didn't immediately reply, the women huffed before asking, "What? Scared by my eyes again?"

"No, it's not that!" Ruby quickly answered, well used to her step-mother's and uncle's red eyes, the result of some medical condition dealing with the pigment of the iris.

"So then what is it then?" Raven asked as she snagged a cookie for herself, "Is this school related, relationship drama, or is this about old man Oz's mission?"

"The last one," Ruby began as she walked around the kitchen to grab a glass before going to the fridge to get the milk. "I'm sure you've seen something about the Silver Knight, Master Oz pretty much told us that while we have the same goal our methods are too different to work together." Going back to the island, Ruby finished by saying, "So now we have to figure out a way to stop not only the Grimm, but the knight as well." As she finished her explanation, Ruby noticed that Raven's attention was on the bracelet the teen wore on her right arm, more specifically on the ruby resting against her wrist. Quickly pulling her sleeve down to cover the gem, Ruby asked, "Do you ever miss it? Do you ever think about just taking it?"

"I'll admit, it's tempting." Raven answered, "But, I've been through enough to know that I can't trust myself with that kind of power. I've played my part in Ozpin's war and I still think you and your friends shouldn't be involved."

"If we didn't say yes, who would?" Ruby challenged before leaning against the countertop. Uncovering her gem to admire the ruby again, the teen commented, "I'm still not sure I'm cut out to be the leader, I feel like all I do half the time is make mistakes."

"Trust me kiddo, I made my share of mistakes back then." Raven commented before taking a bite of her cookie, "It's alright to screw up, just learn and adapt to the situation."

"Yeah, just keep trying and don't walk away, right?" Ruby asked before recognizing what she'd said.

The room became noticeably colder as Raven set her cookie down. After letting out a deep breath, Raven stated, "That was my biggest mistake. If I hadn't gotten spooked after Yang's birth, if I didn't run away then maybe your mom would still be here." Raven then surprised Ruby as she walked towards the girl and pulled her into a hug, "I know I'm never going to replace Summer, but I did learn from that mistake. I use to think might meant right, but now I know none of us are getting through this unless we do it together."

Still not use to the physical contact, Ruby hesitantly returned the hug as she replied, "Thanks Raven." The girl then asked a question she'd been dying to know the answer to, "We did you make cookies anyway?"

Stepping away from her step-daughter, Raven stated, "You don't tell your father I trashed and replaced the microwave, I don't tell him about your midnight 'runs'."

Ruby giggled at that, which turned into full blown laughter when Raven tried to jokingly swat the girl away. Ruby did eventually give the women some peace and quiet and left for her room, but not before swiping another cookie.

* * *

After Yang, their dad and their uncle got home, the Xiao Long-Rose-Branwen house descended into the usual organized chaos of the family dinner. Afterward the adults began cleaning up, save for Raven who drew the short straw, she got to enjoy an extra bowl of ice cream while she watched her brother load up the dishwasher, meanwhile Tai took Zwie for his nightly walk. With the day winding down, the girls went upstairs to work on their homework or just goof off. As was expected of her, Ruby had already finished everything that was due tomorrow and had begun working on the early stages of some larger projects. Despite all that, she still had about an hour left to de-stress before she needed to go to bed. Although blue light from her screen would probably keep her up later, Ruby ended up just mindlessly browsing the internet. That is until inspiration struck.

A quick look at the clock showed it to be near ten, meaning most of the house was still up, but that hadn't stopped Ruby before and it wouldn't stop her now. After going to her closet and moving aside the majority of her clothes, the teen retrieved the messenger bag full of supplies along with a hoodie; not her usual red one, instead the jacket she grabbed was black. After quickly lacing and tying her shoes, Ruby arranged her pillows to make it look as if she were asleep in bed. With that done, the girl was ready to sneak out of the house. After yelling out a good night to the house, Ruby put her plan into action.

With as much practice as she had, it was easy for Ruby to open her window and reach up to grasp the gutter. From there, Ruby shimmed her way along the side of the house. The tricky part came at the corner since the drain pipe was rather loose. Still, it allowed the girl to reach around and flip herself around the corner, even if she did make some noise. Unfortunately the drain pipe made too much noise for Ruby to slide down, but luckily she had enough momentum to reach the window still of the master bedroom. From there it was a simple matter of a few transfers to different window stills before jumping down to the garage roof and then to the ground.

After all the effort, all that was left for Ruby was a quick jog to the bus stop and a ride to downtown Vale.

* * *

Once she was in the city Ruby kept her hood up and a pair of earbuds in her ears. For all intensive purposes she looked like any other teen wondering the city without a though of where they were going, when in reality she was ever alert and looking for the perfect spot.

'Bingo.' The girl said to herself when she spotted the perfect place atop an apartment complex where the neighboring building was perhaps three stories higher. Now she just needed a way up. She debated trying to trick someone into buzzing her in and then taking the stairs to the roof, but decided against that option. Instead, Ruby scouted around the ally on the opposite side to find the bottom ladder of the fire escape hanging about six feet in the air. Much too high for a normal teen to get on, but then again, Ruby wasn't a normal teen.

Walking to the middle of the ally, Ruby turned on her heal and began running to the ladder. Halfway to her goal, she jumped up and kicked off of the neighboring building with enough force to send her across the ally and towards the apartment complex, which she also kicked off of. Ruby repeated this pattern until she got close enough to the ladder, her hands catching the bottom rung; however her momentum was so great that the teen's light body continued traveling upwards. Rather than smash into the medal, Ruby let go of the ladder, doing a half flip before twisting in the air and grabbing onto the corner of the fire escape.

As she began hauling herself up, Ruby mentally congratulated herself, 'Thank you ninja parkour training!'

Once she made it to the roof, Ruby found that her view from the ground had been correct as the neighboring building, not the one she'd kicked off of, had been built practically next to the apartment complex. Seeing as she didn't need to improvise anything else, although she probably was going to use that ladder some careless maintenance staff had left behind, Ruby pulled out her supplies from her messenger bag and began to mentally plot out her next few actions.

Selecting some music, Ruby slipped on a respirator as the opening drum beats of "Belgrade" began blasting through her earbuds. Getting the ladder into position, Ruby climbed up and popped the cap off her first can of spray paint. As she got to work, the teen commented to herself, "I'm going to need to get some more black after this one."

Due to practice, and some ninja speed training, Ruby managed to get her piece done in just under an hour. Stepping back, Ruby admired her latest art project. Staring back at her was the profile of a large black wolf, a mix of silver and grey outlined the animal's muzzle, shoulder and interior of its ears while piercing yellow eyes somehow looked intimidating and comforting simultaneously. Satisfied with her work, Ruby stepped forward to add the finishing touch. Out from her bag the girl pulled a well-used stencil, positioning the paper in the bottom right area of her work before using her white spray paint over the paper, she then carefully lifted the stencil away to reveal a rose added to the work.

Now with her work complete, Ruby gathered up her supplies before stopping to take a picture of her finished piece. With no other evidence the girl was ever there, Ruby climbed down the fire escape and made it back to street level without issue. As she waited for the bus back to her neighborhood, the teen logged into her second ScrollNet account and posted her work, adding a caption that would make her sister proud, "Had a HOWLING good time with this one."

Before logging out, Ruby saw that the wolf had already gotten several likes. While Ruby viewed her graffiti as a way to cut loose when the pressure of high school and monster fighting got too much, it seemed a lot of people enjoyed the artwork of the Phantom Rose. Now all she needed to do was get home, sneak back into her room, and get some actual sleep before school tomorrow.

* * *

Interesting would be an adapt description of the rest of the school week. While Salem didn't send any more Grimm to attack the city, each warrior felt the sting of pop quizzes, some more than others. On the brighter side of things the rest of the group had there own separate encounters with Jaune, which lead to the girls teasing endlessly Pyrrha about her 'connection' to the recently instated newspaper photographer.

Seeing as how it was Saturday, the group had gathered in the woods surrounding Vale for Ruby to discuss their next course of action.

"Finally," Ruby, wearing her usual red hoodie, huffed as Weiss joined the group, "we've been waiting forever!"

"Sorry," Weiss apologized, "it was harder to lose my brother this time around." The girl explained, wearing her usual blue blouse and white skirt.

"You haven't been waiting that long Ruby." Blake countered as she closed her book, "Not to mention I got here first, as always."

"Well if my sister would stop complaining about my driving, we'd made record time." Yang joked, wearing a grey jacket over her yellow shirt today.

"Please this isn't really anything to get upset about." Pyrrha said, trying to get the meeting back on track. Turning to Ruby, the brown turtleneck, plain skirt clad teen asked, "So what's today's briefing?"

"Well," Ruby began, "all's still quiet on the monster front."

"Which means more trouble later." Weiss fired off.

"So then training and meditation?" Blake asked.

"Not quite." Ruby returned with a grin, "We've got a lead on our Knight problem." That got everyone's attention.

"You're not joking, right?" Yang asked, "Because if you are, that's not funny."

"Seriously!" Weiss yelled as she complained, "Why is it we're always the last to know about these things?"

"Hey I just found out myself." Ruby defended herself, "I just got a message from Miss Jinn. I guess she has a way to spy outside the library. Apparently the Silver Knight has been coming to the woods for the past few days to practice."

"Just a moment," Pyrrha interrupted, "if Jinn knows that, does she know who the Silver Knight is?"

"She didn't say." Ruby answered.

"Didn't say, or wouldn't say?" Weiss challenged, only for Yang to speak up.

"Look, that doesn't matter at the moment." The blonde stated, "Right now we've got a good idea where out _friend _is." Turning to her sister, Yang asked, "So what's the plan Ruby?"

"We try to talk him down and get him to stop," Ruby replied, "if that doesn't work then we show him why his way is wrong. Now," Ruby stood straighter as she used her left hand to cup her right her thumb, pointer and middle fingers pointing upwards while her ring finger and pinky curled towards her palm. As one the other girls mimicked her movement. "Transform! Ninja Form!"

"So childish." Weiss commented.

"Yeah, not happening." Yang called out.

"I really don't think that's necessary." Blake pointed out.

"Why do we need a catchphrase if no one ever hears it?" Pyrrha questioned.

"I will come up with something amazing!" Ruby yelled back, "And you will all think it's awesome.

The conversation stopped as the girl's felt the familiar rush of energy. Shortly colored smoke poured out of their gems. Soon Ruby was enveloped in a cloud of red, Weiss in blue, Blake in purple, Yang in yellow, and Pyrrha in brown. Each girl felt the weight of their armor form around them before reaching out to grasp their weapons. Ruby spun her naginata around a few times before holding tight with her right hand, the majority of the staff braced against her arm. Weiss gave a few chops with her bladed fans before neatly folding them and slipping the weapons up her sleeve. Blake tossed her sickle before pulling it back with her chain. Yang flipped her tonfas around a few times before holstering the batons on her waist. Lastly Pyrrha preformed a quick slash with her katana before sheathing the blade.

Once the smoke cleared, the five warriors stood ready to move out. In sync, four of the girls nodded to their leader before the red clad girl nodded back and began running into the woods, her team right behind her.

* * *

Fifteen minutes of running later and the warriors came to a clearing. While hidden in the trees, the group saw the Silver Knight swing his sword at imaginary foes. While Red pondered how best to proceed, the knight suddenly turned on his heel and slammed his blade into the ground. As he rested his hands on the weapon's cross guard, the man called out, "Whoever is there, come out now!" Not really seeing much choice, Red lead her team into the clearing. As the groups studied one another, the knight spoke first, "I've got to tell you, I've been expecting this meeting for quite a while now."

"Oh?" Purple asked, "And just what do you expect us to talk about?"

"A team up," the Silver Knight replied, "you know since we both want to stop those monsters."

"As if we'd form a partnership with you." Blue challenged, "Do you even realize what you're doing?"

"Helping people?" the knight replied, not seeing where this was going.

"You're making a spectacle of yourself." Yellow shot back, "People praise you when you're there to stop the monsters, but what happens when you don't show up?"

"They will question why you weren't there," Bronze answered for the knight, "which will only create more fear, which will only make the monsters stronger."

As the Silver Knight digested those words, Red spoke up, "Look, we get that you want to help and we thank you for it. But you're going about this wrong, you're messing around with forces you don't fully understand. So we'll ask you this one time, stop fighting the Grimm and let us handle it."

The clearing was silent as the warriors waited for the knight's response, his words only made them tense, "There's a saying I grew up hearing, everything before the word but is bullshit."

"Excuse me?" Blue shrieked.

"You're excused," the Silver Knight shot off without missing a beat. Turning his attention back to Red, the knight stated, "I heard what you had to say, so now you'll listen to me. Maybe I don't know the full story about what's going on, but I'll tell you what I do know. I know that the Grimm are attack people, I know that they are getting stronger and are appearing in greater numbers, and I know that if I'm able to help I will, no matter what."

Once more silence reigned over the clearing before Red asked, "So that's how it's going to be?"

"It appears so." The knight replied.

With the conversation over, the two groups got ready to attack. The Kunoichis didn't present any outward signs of aggression, just a subtle movement of their weight forward in preparation to attack.

They were caught off-guard when the Silver Knight acted first.

Instead of pulling his sword from the ground, the knight pulled the handled towards himself, bending the blade. When the weapon snapped back straight, the tip launched dirt forward, right into Purple's eyes.

'Crap,' Red mentally yelled. 'He knew Blake had the longest range. He's seen us fight before.'

While the group was distracted, the Silver Knight sheathed his blade and twisted the handle. Recognizing what was happening, Red called out "Scatter!"

Her teammates listened without hesitation, jumping in different directions before the knight could form his energy gun, the bolts hitting bare dirt. Red smirked behind her scarf, confident they could now turn the tide.

It wasn't until the Silver Knight unsheathed his sword and charged forward that she realized they'd been played.

When Red attempted a swipe with her naginata, the knight swiftly ducked under it without missing a step. When Yellow charged from the side with a wide swing of her tonfa, the knight brought up his armored forearm to intercept the blow before continuing forward to his target, Purple.

By now Purple managed to get the dirt out of her eyes, but was unprepared to see her opponent so close to her. The warrior attempted to jump backwards and put some distance between the two, but found the pommel of the knight's sword shoved into her diaphragm, knocking the wind out of her.

With one of his opponents incapacitated, the Silver Knight turned his attention to the charging pair of Yellow and Bronze. As before Yellow was leading with telegraphed swing, but instead of blocking, the knight side stepped the attack. As Yellow passed by him, the knight sent an elbow into her back, not enough to incapacitate the fighter but enough to distract her as he went after Bronze.

As the women went to draw her sword, the knight stepped into her guard and grabbed her wrist, stopping the movement. Before he could do anything else, Yellow managed to land a swing on the knight's helmet, which gave a rather satisfying ding. The warrior didn't get to enjoy her small victory for long before the Silver Knight returned the favor. Using the flat of his blade, the man slapped Yellow's arm away before delivering a spartan kick to the woman's stomach. Yellow made a rather sizable indent in the tree she landed against, her groaning the only confirmation she was still conscious.

With Yellow seemingly out of the fight, the Silver Knight turned his attention back to Bronze, only or a chained sickle to wrap around his sword. By now Purple had managed to get her breath back and was trying to separate her opponent from her comrade. Despite the new development, the knight seemed unfazed as he roughly jerked his sword towards himself, causing Purple to be pulled along as well. The warrior thought a sword strike was coming next and was prepared to avoid it, only to end up on the receiving end of an armored close line. Now laid out on the first ground, Purple was once more out of the fight.

All this happened in mere moments as Red quickly turned and ran towards the fight. Using her weapon as a pole vault, the leader attempted to drop kick the knight. While she didn't land her attack, she did succeed in making the Silver Knight let go of Bronze. Now free to attack, Bronze drew her katana with startling speed, the attack landing on the Silver Knight's breastplate and pushing the man back a ways.

Before the knight could charge forward, Blue appeared out of the shadows. Keeping her fans closed, the warrior jabbed the weapon in a gap of the armor near the knight's right shoulder. The effect was immediate as the appendage became limp, the sword falling from numb fingers.

"Pressure points, that could be a problem." The Silver Knight admitted as her picked up his sword with his left. The group were expecting a wild swing to create some distance between him and Blue, but were once again shocked when he charged forward and delivered a headbutt, disorientating the warrior and sending her to the ground. With another opponent down, the Knight slammed the pommel of the sword into his own right shoulder, the action was painful but restored feeling in his arm.

With full mobility again, the Silver Knight picked up Blue and tossed her to Red and Bronze, the latter forced to drop her katana to safely catch her comrade. As Red got ready to charge, she saw the knight had once more shifted his weapon into it's gun form, "And this is were I win." The knight declared.

"Just what makes you so sure?" Red asked.

"Because of the five of you only two can properly dodge right now. Maybe you and Miss Bronze could pull two of your friends with you, but that leaves one to take the entire blast. I'm sure your armor has some protection, but will it hold out at this range?" The Silver Knight could hear Red grind her teeth as she lowered her naginata in defeat. "Alright, so here's what's going to happen. I'm going to leave and you're not going to follow me. From here on out if we see each other we have the professional courtesy to stay out of the other's way, got it?"

"Fine." Red agreed, anger present in her short response.

"Good." The knight replied as they began walking backwards.

"Just why are you doing this?" Bronze called out as she helped Blue to her feet, "There maybe glory in fighting the Grimm, but at the cost of everyone's safety?"

"Glory? Is that why the old knight fought?" the Silver Knight asked as he continued his retreat, leaving the group with one more question before disappearing amongst the trees, "Is it really so hard to believe I just want to help people?"

Now left alone, Purple was the first to vocalize the group's thoughts, "Well that could have gone better."

"I'll say," Blue agreed, "how is it we can eliminate a small swarm of Grimm, but we can't stop one man with a sword."

"I call hacks!" Yellow attempted to joke, "Or at the very least because he's got better armor

"It's his fighting style." Bronze disagreed. "We're trained to defeat mindless beast, he's emphasized fighting against other people." She then turned to the group's leader and asked, "Where do we go from here?"

"Right now, let's get back to the castle." Red stated, "Three of us need to heal, and I've got some questions for Master Oz."

* * *

Jaune transformed out of his armor before exiting the woods. Well it was official, he'd have to tell Ren that there was no chance of him working with the Kunoichi Krushers. He'd probably have to mention it when Nora wasn't in the room, he didn't know if his friend could take the news without raiding the _Lotus Café_'s back room.

"Oh well," Jaune said to himself as he made it back into the city, "I guess this is why you're not supposed to meet heroes."

* * *

Inside the central room of the compound; Yang, Blake and Wiess were laying down close to the Energy Crystal, allowing the energy to heal their injuries. Once they were nearly finished, the door opened as Ozpin walked inside. Closing the door behind him, the man stated, "Jinn informed me that you had an encounter with the Silver Knight."

"That's one way to say it," Yang replied first, "another is that he kick our collective ass."

"Unfortunately I expected such an outcome," Ozpin admitted before taking a sip from his ever present coffee mug, "I've trained you to fight Grimm, not your fellow man."

"Yeah, we kinda figured that out." Blake deadpanned.

"And it isn't working." Ruby supplied.

"Excuse me, what did you say Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"You've trained us to fight against the Grimm, but the fight is changing." Ruby began, "We got lucky that the Silver Knight didn't want to end us, but what if Salem manages to create a Grimm that fights like a human? We need to be prepared, even if we can't keep the fight a secret anymore."

"I see." Ozpin replied evenly before asking his other warriors, "And do you all feel similarly?" When he received hesitant nodded, Ozpin stated, "Very well, rest tonight and tomorrow. I had hoped to give you more time, but the day after will be when the real training begins."

"Wait, you haven't taught us everything yet?" Weiss questioned, "Just what other secrets have you been keeping from us?"

"My dear girl, I have been fighting Salem for centuries." Ozpin explained, "Sometimes she grows more powerful before I am able to seal her away once more. I had hoped I would not further burden you five with any more unnecessary hardships."

"You asked us to fight, and we choose to help." Ruby stated, "We accepted this duty you entrusted to us, with all the consequences."

"And you have just reminded me once more I choose wisely." Ozpin praised with a smile before he exited the room, calling back, "As I said, rest up. Soon you will get to learn the fun stuff."

* * *

**Wow, sixteen pages. A bit more than I expected but it was a blast to write.**

**As I said before, I'm sure many of you have guessed who the rangers are. We got a taste of Ruby's backstory, and some of Yang's as well. The main plan for this story is while I'll have some jumps of POV, each chapter should focus on a different character to better explore them. The current plan is to alternate between Jaune and a different ranger, but we'll see how long that lasts.**

**Now as for how Jaune "won" the fight so easily, I tried to explain it in the story but it mostly came down to fighting styles. Ozpin's expecting the girls to be going up against a number of Beowolves, essentially the footsoldier grunts of the story, he didn't expect someone like Jaune to appear. And yes, while Jaune's main experience is against Beowolves he's new enough that he's able to adapt fighting against people that actually try and plan ahead.**

**So with this chapter some questions are answered, while others appear. Such questions as…**

**What happened to the silver gem?**

**Will Jaune find more Knight Coins?**

**What Zords will the girls get?**

**Find out the answers to these questions and more in the coming chapters of **_**Rangers and **_

_**Ninjas and Knights, Oh My!**_

**Until then, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


End file.
